USDA Proposes Changes To Women, Infants & Children Food Program That Reduce Protein And Key Nutrients For Health

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department that develops laws related to food, farming, etc. The organization is made up of 29 agencies and offices with almost 100,000 employees and 4,500 locations both domestic and international. Supposedly, the USDA makes suggestions and creates guidelines about nutrition that are meant to help Americans live healthier lives. However, their recent proposed changes for the Women, Infants & Children food program seem to be doing the very opposite.

USDA Proposes Changes to Women, Infants & Children Food Program That Reduce Protein and Key Nutrients for Health

According to the USDA website, there is a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) that "provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk." The program's goal is to "safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children" who face nutrition risks. WIC provides "nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care."

But science journalist and author Nina Teicholz points out that the recent proposed changes to WIC are actually going to cause more harm than good. She tweeted about the USDA's proposed changes to the WIC program, including cutting meat in half for infants, prohibiting cheese for breastfeeding mothers, and reducing real milk and replacing it with soy milk.

"All WIC changes that would reduce protein, key nutrients," she tweets. "And inevitably harm health. Yet virtually every politician, 'public interest' group is praising the proposal, bc it offers more fruit + veg. This is tunnel vision."

"Most Soy is GMO," someone responded in the comments. "Soy in excess over time can affect the body adversely (Estrogen Levels) which can lead to Estrogen Dominance as well as trigger autoimmune flares. Not good… If eating soy, Non GMO Soy in moderation is best along with other well sourced meat & cheese proteins."

It makes you wonder why so many of the health propositions offered to us by government organizations suggest things that are actually not so good for our health. For example, we've been told by public health organizations to significantly reduce meat, eggs, and butter because saturated fat leads to heart disease (it doesn't) and instead cook with vegetable oils, which are very high in linoleic acid, a substance that causes chronic inflammation and leads to a host of health issues. We're also being told a lot recently to replace animal products with bugs—yes, bugs. At some point we have to stop and wonder if these organizations really do have our best interests at heart.